How Far We've Come
by darkrunner
Summary: Alternate ending to Doom. The only thing standing between the world and its destruction is a pair of young duelists. Implied Silentshipping, for round 2 of computerfreak101's YGO challenge pairings contest. New title.


A/N: Silentshipping (Seto x Shizuka) for Computerfreak101's contest.  
I don't particuarly like or dislike silentshipping as a pairing. When I have to write it, however... gah.

Old title was just... bleh. New title (the title I was originally going to use and didn't) is from the song that inspired this fic.

"I believe the world is burning to the ground.  
Oh well, I guess we're gonna find out.  
Let's see how far we've come."  
--"How Far We've Come" by Matchbox Twenty

Disclaimer: If owned Yugioh, there would be one more canon pairing. (Hint: It starts with a "p" and ends with an "olarshipping".)

Alternate ending to Doom. Instead of waiting to fight Atem, Rafael went back to Dartz's lair. With no one to fight, and no where to go, the gang could only stand by and wait until Dartz attacked. Dartz merged with the Leviathan, and along with his army of monsters and Orichalcos soldiers, attacked the world. Yugi, Jounouchi, Mai, Pegasus, Varon, Amelda, Ryuzaki, Haga, and everyone else's souls are all still captured, so now Atem, Kaiba, the rest of the gang, and the remaining duelists of the world are fighting back. For the sake of the silentshipping, either Shizuka came to America or Kaiba went back to Japan.

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Monsters swarmed through the city as Kaiba Seto stood his ground, armed with nothing but a deck of trading cards and a duel disk. Three spaces on the duel disk were filled, three white dragons standing before him.

"Blue Eyes, burst stream of destruction!" He shouted, and a dozen armor-clad creatures fell before his mighty dragon. The other two dragons took to the sky, grappling with winged monsters, and blasting at ground monsters from overhead. Kaiba surveyed the damage while his dragons fended off the hoarde of monsters. The city was still standing, more or less. Rubble lined every street, but the buildings were somewhat standing.

There was hardly anyone left now. Kaiba had seen them fleeing the city as he had arrived. His precious Blue-Eyes Jet was sitting safely behind him. This was the fourth city Kaiba was fighting for in this manner. The creatures were coming en masse up the entire coastline; the only way to stop them was to spread out. Yugi, his friends, and as many duelists as they could find were all separated, defending different cities. Kaiba had won all three of his battles, but each one was becoming more difficult. He had no word of the others; no idea if the rest of the world had fallen yet.

With a loud roar, the grounded Blue-Eyes shot a burst stream at the last monster in sight. Kaiba called to his dragon, and it came to him. The other dragons hovered overhead protectively as Kaiba climbed on the back of the sitting dragon. It took to the air, Kaiba riding on its back, searching for more enemies. He scanned the rubble for anything that moved. It was very unlikely that anyone was left, and if they were, that they were still moving. Kaiba did all he could, but there was no way to save everyone. The body count was in the hundreds, just in the areas he had fought in.

_Something's not right_, Kaiba thought as he surveryed the city. The monsters had disappeared. There were none left anywhere. Always, there had been lone monsters, too stupid to stay with the flock, or smart enough to evade Kaiba's attacks. But here, there was nothing but torn streets and broken buildings. Kaiba called to his dragon to land, and slid off of its back. He looked up at the dark sky. Even it was empty, devoid of light of any kind. Kaiba suddenly was filled with foreboding. The world was entirely too still, like the calm before a storm. He sent two of his dragons high up in the skies to scout for enemies.

The tension while Kaiba waited for them to return was unberable. He stood in the darkness, his eyes fixed on the sky. Suddenly, he some kind of far-off explosion. The sounds of monsters attacking? Ignoring the strain of sustaining 3 powerful monsters, Kaiba slid another card out from his duel disk. Sacred Phoenix of Nepthys. His hand hovered over the tray of the duel disk, ready to summon the monster.

The sky began to lighten as Kaiba waited for his Blue-Eyes to return. He heard more far-off sounds of destruction, but they were few and far between. There was probably a duelist there already. Then, Kaiba heard something not so far off. He whirled around. At the far end of the street, a lone figure was standing. Kaiba strained to see it.

"Blue-Eyes," he called. "Show me the monster! Burst stream of destruction!"

His dragon complied, sending a jet of white light crashing into the building the creature was standing next to. It was an Orichalcos soldier. Kaiba smirked, but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Just one stupid monster.

"Kill it, Blue Eyes," he said casually, lowering his hand. The white dragon shot another stream of destruction at the soldier. Just as it was going to hit it, a different jet of light shot down from above the soldier, neutralizing Kaiba's attack. Immediately, he reacted, summoning the Phoenix that had been sitting in his hand. He felt his heart beat faster and his breath quicken as the monster appeared.

"Phoenix, attack!" Kaiba shouted, pointing at the space in the air above the Orichalcos soldier. As the flaming bird drew closer, it illuminated the creature hovering in the air. Kaiba gasped.

The Leviathan.

It shot forward at the phoenix, killing it instantly. Kaiba felt a stabbing pain in his chest and fell to his knees. The massive creature slithered towards him, a swarm of flying duel monsters in tow. Their numbers darkened the lightening sky.

"Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba called hastily, drawing another card. "Attack together!"

The two dragons that had been sent to scout flew back in over the head of the Leviathan, shooting down jets of lighting at random monsters. The third white dragon leapt into the air and fused together with its sisters. The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon stood in the place of the three white dragons. Together, the three heads attacked. The light swung through the weaker monsters, destroying every one it touched, then crashed into the great Leviathan.

Without so much as flinching, the Levithan swung its tail around and slammed the Ultimate Dragon to the ground. Kaiba felt the same pain as his monster, and fell forward on the ground. The dragon roared feebly from where it was lying, unable to move or attack.

Kaiba watched helplessly as the monsters, led by the Leviathan, attacked the city. Concrete and steel torn from buildings rained down around Kaiba and his fallen dragon. They could only lie in darkness and pray that somehow they would live. The Orichalcos soldier that Kaiba had first attacked ran towards the dragon, and started to kick it. Kaiba felt every blow on his own body.

"No," he said, struggling to his feet. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain. "Damn you, get away from my dragon!"

The Orichalcos soldier heard him and looked up. Kaiba stayed where he was. He was going to die anyway, might as well die fighting. He shouted to the creature again.

"If you want to fight someone, fight me, you bastard!"

The soldier looked from the hurt dragon to Kaiba. With one last kick, it left the dragon and charged at Kaiba. He smiled grimly, and braced for the creature's attack.

It never came. When Kaiba looked up at the soldier again, it was frozen in place, a sword sticking through its torso. The sword was withdrawn, and the soldier disappeared. Standing behind it was a short-haired young woman clad in shining armor. He recognized it as a duel monster by the name of St. Joan. Another duelist must be nearby, but who, he had no idea. He knew no duelist who played that card.

Kaiba saw someone running from down the street, but they were too far away to make out. St. Joan sprang forward, and dashed past Kaiba towards the other monsters. He watched in amazement as it started destroying every one of them.

The Leviathan, seeing the destruction of its army, stopped and turned back towards the duelists. It loosed another terrible blast, which St. Joan dodged easily. The shot was not aimed at the monster, however. Kaiba followed its path right to the young red-haired duelist that was running up the street. Before anyone knew what was happening, the fallen, dying dragon rose again, shooting into the air. Kaiba never spoke a word as it flew in front of the Leviathan's great attack. He fell heavily as the dragon died, but was caught before he hit the ground, though by what, he couldn't see. His vision was swimming in and out of focus, his breath quickening again, his heart struggling to keep him alive. Summoning the monsters had drained his strength, and feeling them destroyed was draining his life. The Leviathan was the greatest creature he had ever faced, more terrible even than the Dragon of Osiris.

"St. Joan, return!" a female voice called. Kaiba felt himself hit the ground as the monster holding him vanished. The Leviathan roared loudly, and readied itself for another blow.

"Go, Dark Hole!" the same voice shouted, only this time, much closer to Kaiba. A giant vortex appeared in the sky, sucking up all the weaker monsters, and even pulling on the great black serpent. The Levithan broke free, though, and readied itself for another attack. Kaiba waited in grim silence. It was over. They were going to--

"Kaiba-kun!"

Kaiba looked over at the girl running towards him. The fact that she was wearing a duel disk registered only slightly next to the fact that she was actually there. He struggled for a moment to remember her name as she knelt down beside him.

"Shizuka?" he said uncertainly, speaking directly to her for the first time in their lives. _What on earth is she doing here?_

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"No," he answered honestly.

"Come on," she said, offering him her hand. "We have to get out of here."

"I can't..." he said, breathing heavily. "You... go..."

Shizuka ignored him and tried to pull his arm over her shoulder. He had no strength left, neither to resist nor accept her help. She tried to pull him up anyway, but he was bigger than her, and he was dead weight. They both fell back down. The Leviathan roared loudly and they turned to look. It was about to loose another attack on them. There was no escape now.

"Baka..." Kaiba said faintly, struggling to his hands and knees. "Just... go..."

"If it's going to get us anyway, I think I'll stay," she said with a small smile, kneeling beside him. "I know we've never so much as talked before... and you hate my brother... but at least we don't have to..." her voice faltered briefly. "...die alone."

Kaiba stared at her in amazement. How could she stand there, facing the end of the world, and still be so strong? He could see why Jounouchi loved her so much. If he'd had another chance... maybe...

Kaiba pulled a card from his deck and slapped it onto his duel disk. A great black dragon appeared in front of them. He yelled in pain as the monster sapped his strength. He collapsed onto the ground again, facedown in the dirt. And still he felt more life ebbing from him. He wouldn't have the other chance that he wanted, but at least she might.

"Kaiba-kun?" Shizuka said, worried, but Kaiba heard her only faintly. Critias charged at the Leviathan, striking it before it could release its attack. The great serpent roared in pain. Kaiba smiled faintly, triumphantly. His dragon attacked again. Shizuka was shaking his shoulder, telling him to get up. It was no use. The last thing he saw as he gave the rest of his life to Critias was the Leviathan falling from the sky, and the last thing he heard was Shizuka calling his name.  
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A/N: I killed Kaiba like I thought I would, but for once, (gasp) NO polarshipping! The original one had polarshipping, but Kaiba was OOC like you wouldn't believe. I had a longer conversation between the two of them with Kaiba telling her how Jou lost, but Mai was there, so he was happy. This one still isn't quite what I wanted, but it's a little closer.


End file.
